A campaign for the development of the rail transport industry in Nigeria

1. Private Public Partnership for Rail
Transport Development in Nigeria
Rail transportis the mosteffective wayof movingpeople andgoodsinanycountry.
Priorto its emergence asatop oil producingnation,Nigeriawasatop exporterof mostof the
agricultural goodsinAfrica.The rail transport boostedthe agric.Industryas farmers were able to
gettheirproductsto marketsbothfor local consumptionandforexport.Whenwe became anoil
producingnationrail transportfacilitatedmovementof the fuelstootherpartsof the country.
The adventof petroleumproductionmade the importance of agriculture lookinsignificanttoour
economythoughsuchperceptionswere false.
The boost inour economymade governmentandthe people richerthentopreferredroadandair
transportto rail transport.This made the rail industryexperiencemindlessregret.Mindlessbecause
we startedimportingfoodthatwe usedto grow.It neveroccurredto usthat transport wasa major
factor whywe couldnot getthose foodsforotherparts of the country.It neverbotheredmanywhy
local rice was costlierthanimportedrice.
Withthe economicdownturn,manyare returningtoagriculture asa meansof livelihood.Toboost
the agric revolution,transportationcostsmustbe takenintoconsideration.
The frequentvandalisingof oil pipelinesmake mostof the petroleumproductstobe transportedby
road. Thishas affectedaffordability andqualityof fuels.
Rail transportis a major keytothe country’seconomicrevival.
Problems andpossible solutions.
1. Political:lotsof the elite seethe rail transportasa meansof easyaccessfor people of other
tribestotheirlandand expose false impressionshitherto.We canpromote the use of rail
transportas meansof cost savingsinmovingtheiragricultural produce.
2. Most fleetownersof roadtransportvehiclescanbe encouragedtoinvestinthe rail project
withfavourable financial instrumentsthatwouldhelppreventtheiroppositionand(behind
the scenes) sabotage.
3. Funding:Mostof the terrainwhere rail transportismost neededisroughandmarshy.It
therefore wouldbe capital intensivetodevelop.Investmentrewardsinotherattractive
sectorscouldbe usedare incentivestoattract majorfinancial investors